Bombs, blood, ambushes - football coaching with the army

The rising sun bathes the rolling Herefordshire hillsides in a warm glow as birds gently chirp and sheep graze in the fields.

But this rural idyll is shattered by the sound of explosions, followed by plumes of smoke and ear-splitting screams.

Six camouflaged men rush to the scene to find a soldier howling for help as he clutches his bloodied leg, half of which appears to have been blown off.

Thankfully, the blood is fake and this is an actor - albeit a former soldier and amputee - and the first responders are a group of football coaches studying for their Uefa Pro Licence, the sport's highest coaching qualification.

Former Arsenal midfielder and Wales captain Aaron Ramsey applies a tourniquet, while ex-Chelsea and Argentina goalkeeper Willy Caballero comforts the casualty.

Also part of the group are Peterborough United boss Luke Williams and Michael Wilde, who manages Colwyn Bay in the Cymru Premier, thrown together for this intensive, two-day exercise with military-trained personnel.

The Football Association of Wales' (FAW) pro licence course has been described as the "Harvard of football coaching", and counts Mikel Arteta, Arsenal's Premier League-winning manager, among its graduates.

By now, it is globally renowned, as illustrated by this latest batch of candidates.

"The FAW have earned themselves an incredible reputation in the world of coach education," says Michael Bradley, the former United States and Roma midfielder who is now coaching New York Red Bulls.

"I've had great experiences with the FAW. I did my B Licence, my A Licence here, and now to have the opportunity to complete my Pro Licence, it's a big honour."

Bradley has just been taking part in an ambush exercise, where he and his team are instructed to rescue a hostage in a forest and usher her to safety while fending off armed enemies.

Among the cohort of (paintball) gun-wielders in Bradley's team are Champions League-winning ex-Chelsea and France midfielder Florent Malouda and Wales international Will Vaulks.

These fledgling coaches come from all sorts of backgrounds. Perhaps most impressively, another former US international, Ella Masar, is doing this course while 36 weeks pregnant.

"I was giving the guys flak when they were carrying a 10-kilo bag on their backs. I'm like, 'Just switch it around to the front, and then you have a little bit of a day in the life'," she laughs.

"These guys have been so incredible, accepting and being so helpful. They all have wives and kids, and they've just really put a hand out.

"That respect, especially with the status of some of these, has been so rewarding for me. It's been incredible."

There are elements of this course Masar cannot participate in fully for obvious health-related reasons but, anything she can do, the Chicago Red Stars assistant coach throws herself into.

Early in the morning, she joins Malouda, Bradley and Wales assistant boss Piet Cremers in a dimly lit war room, plotting invasion strategies and how best to deal with hostile environments in the virtual world of 'Breconia'.

Having been bundled out of their tents at dawn, everyone here is exhausted even before they have been set any tasks.

"They're in an environment that's really unfamiliar to them, and we're applying pressure in a number of different ways," says Matt Johns, who founded Fieri, the company which runs this course.

"We've got them tired, they don't know what's going to happen next, they've got a little bit of fear, trepidation.

"We find different ways of stressing them and then we get to perform, so they learn a lot about themselves."

You might be wondering what exactly this has to do with football coaching. Judging by some of the weary facial expressions from those undertaking this training, the same thought has crossed their minds.

"There are generic parts of leading and leading under pressure, regardless of your level or your industry," Johns, a former military commander, explains.

"The thing that's really different about people from that sports background, they've got drive, they want to win, they want to be the best. We show them something, and then the next step is, 'How do I become the best of it?' So that's a really nice environment to be working in.

"When you listen to their reflections at the end, the things they come up with are profound. They'll make the leap between how they had to deal with a really pressurised situation with us to how they're going to adapt their approach in their environment."

Football management is stressful, tiring and often all-consuming.

It does not present life-or-death challenges like a career in the army, but military training like this will ensure these coaches are prepared for anything in the dugout.

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